The Serbian engineering group’s recovery began under local owners before DSD arrived to push it further into European markets.
The arrival of Germany’s DSD at Goša Montaža in 2023 might appear to be a familiar tale of a foreign industrial group rescuing a struggling Balkan manufacturer. The chronology points to a more nuanced conclusion.
By the time DSD acquired half of the Serbian steel fabrication and industrial construction company, Goša had already returned to profit, secured a sizeable infrastructure contract and undergone an aggressive consolidation of ownership. DSD did not begin the turnaround. It bought into its second stage.
Goša is no industrial newcomer. Its lineage extends to the Serbian-French Jasenica company founded in 1923, while its steel construction operations began in the early 1930s. The company developed capabilities in power plants, mining equipment, pipelines and heavy steel structures, becoming an important contractor for Serbia’s energy sector and the wider Yugoslav industrial market.
Its modern ownership story began in 2006, when a consortium of 272 employees bought Goša Montaža through privatisation. For a time, it was presented as one of Serbia’s more successful experiments in employee share ownership. Workers invested in equipment and preserved the company’s engineering base.
But the structure also produced highly dispersed control. In 2018, Goša had 705 shareholders and no dominant owner. It generated operating revenue of about RSD1.17bn, but net profit was only RSD5.8mn — a margin of less than 0.5 per cent. The company possessed valuable industrial capabilities, but little financial cushion and no shareholder with a clear mandate to reshape it.
That changed in 2019. DECO, a privately owned Serbian engineering company, began accumulating Goša shares. Incumbent management described the operation as a hostile takeover and attempted to defend itself with an unusually large dividend. By November, DECO had raised its holding to 50.3 per cent.
The ownership battle coincided with Goša’s worst financial performance in recent years. Revenue fell to roughly RSD852mn in 2019 and the company recorded a net loss of RSD510mn. Average employment declined to 434, from 464 a year earlier.
DECO continued buying. Its stake rose above two-thirds in 2020 and approached 90 per cent in 2022. In September that year, it compulsorily acquired the remaining shares. Shortly afterwards, 62.5 per cent of Goša was transferred to Frotingam, a related company, while DECO retained 37.5 per cent.
The consolidation brought an end to Goša’s unusual period of widely distributed worker and minority ownership. It was delisted from the Belgrade Stock Exchange and converted from a public joint-stock company into a private limited-liability company in February 2023.
The financial recovery, however, had started well before the delisting. Goša returned to profit in 2020. In 2021, revenue reached about RSD1.8bn and net profit rose to RSD197mn. In March 2022, it secured a contract worth almost €29mn for work on the navigation lock at the Đerdap 2 hydroelectric complex.
These developments complicate any account that casts DSD as Goša’s rescuer. The local owners had already imposed control, restructured the business and restored profitability. DSD’s subsequent investment was closer to an industrial expansion deal than a distressed acquisition.
In May 2023, DSD Steel Construction acquired 50 per cent of Goša, leaving Frotingam with the other half. Neither the price nor the terms of the shareholders’ agreement have been made public.
The description of DSD as German is commercially accurate but legally incomplete. Goša’s direct shareholder is DSD Steel Construction AG, a Swiss company that also owns Germany-based DSD Steel Group. The group’s main industrial operations are centred in Germany and extend across metallurgy, hydraulic steelwork, power plants, bridges, cranes and process engineering.
The strategic logic is clear. Goša offers an experienced fabrication and site-assembly base, lower-cost engineering capacity and deep relationships with Serbian energy and infrastructure customers. DSD brings European references, project management, engineering integration and access to larger international contracts.
The 50-50 structure also suggests that DSD wanted a partnership rather than a conventional takeover. Frotingam retains local influence and knowledge, while DSD provides a route into European supply chains. The arrangement can balance the partners’ strengths, although equal ownership also carries the familiar risk of deadlock if their interests diverge.
Goša’s growth since the transaction has been substantial. Reported revenue increased from RSD2.47bn in 2023 to RSD3.77bn in 2025. Net profit rose from RSD177mn to RSD346mn, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation almost doubled to RSD530mn. Employment increased from 129 to 262.
The 2025 net margin of about 9.2 per cent was particularly encouraging. Equity strengthened and Goša’s current ratio — a measure of short-term financial resilience — improved from 1.21 to 1.47.
Not all of this expansion can be attributed to DSD. Serbian inflation has flattered nominal revenue growth, and Goša continues to depend heavily on domestic energy and state-backed infrastructure work. Revenue surged in 2024, but the net margin fell before recovering the following year, illustrating the volatility of large engineering contracts.
Corporate restructuring also makes historical comparisons difficult. Goša’s reported workforce fell from 312 employees in 2020 to just 53 in 2021 even as revenue doubled. This coincided with the development of Goša Montaža Inženjering, a subsidiary subsequently sold to Frotingam. The divergence strongly suggests that some activity was shifted between related companies, rather than representing a sudden leap in labour productivity.
Moreover, DSD acquired half of Goša Montaža itself, not half of the entire network of Goša-related companies controlled by the local owners. That distinction matters when judging the size and performance of the business that came under shared ownership.
There are nevertheless early signs that the European strategy is producing results. Goša has cited its participation in the GET H2 Nukleus green-hydrogen project in Lingen, Germany, where it is involved in erecting cooling towers, platforms and related components. Such work gives the Serbian company the European references that can be as valuable as immediate profit when competing for future contracts.
The decisive test will be whether Goša can build a durable European order book rather than relying on occasional foreign projects alongside large Serbian public-sector contracts. Its private status also means investors and competitors now receive less information than during its years on the stock exchange.
Goša’s evolution is therefore best understood in two stages. DECO and Frotingam turned a fragmented, marginally profitable worker-owned company into a controlled and investable industrial platform. DSD then entered to add international reach, technical integration and scale.
The local owners made Goša investable. DSD’s task is to make it European.
